Taxpayers cough up £370m for Buckingham Palace

Thu Nov 24 23:08:34 GMT 2016

Paying for Buckingham Palace

https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/

Claim

Profit on the Crown Estate over the last 10 years 
is enough to pay for the renovation of Buckingham Palace six times over.

Conclusion

Thats about right.

The Crown Estate has already paid for the 
renovation [of Buckingham Palace] many times over 
by way of their contributions to Government 
revenue. In fact, theyve already paid for it six 
times over in the last ten years alone having 
paid £2.4 billion to the Treasury over that period

Huffington Post, 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/luke-springthorpe/buckingham-palace-cost_b_13119164.html>21 
November 2016

These figures are correct. The Treasury has 
received 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/media/761966/annual-report-and-accounts-2016.pdf#page=121>£2.4 
billion in profit on assets owned by the Crown 
since 2007, which is more than six times the 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/570096/Sovereign_grant_review_2016_print.pdf#page=21>£369 
million estimated cost of refitting Buckingham Palace over the next 10 years.
That said, the level of the monarchys public 
funding is based on the profits of the Crown 
Estate. So by our calculations the Treasurys net 
profit, if you like, has been more like £2.1 billion over the last decade.

The government keeps most of the money from Crown assets

The Crown Estate is land and other assets owned 
by the British monarchy. Its 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/who-we-are/our-history/history/>not 
the Queens personal property, though: she 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/our-business/faqs/#whoownsthecrownestate>cant 
sell any of it. The Crown Estate comes with the job.
Worth 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/our-business/financial-information/>£12.9 
billion, the Crown Estate includes 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/central-london/st-jamess/>half 
of St Jamess in central London, various 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/media/476347/schedule-of-properties-rights-and-interests.pdf#page=4>business 
parks and shopping centres around Great Britain, 
offshore 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/estates-map/map>wind 
farms, and 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/https://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/rural-and-coastal/>136,000 
hectares of rural land.
Its managed by 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/9-10/55/section/1>independent 
commissioners rather than by the monarchy or the 
government. They hand over the profit from rent 
and other income from the Crown Estate to the 
Treasury, as has been the case 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/http://www.andywightman.com/docs/civil_list_crown_1901.pdf>since 
1760.
The Queen gets a sum equivalent to 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/15/section/6>15% 
of this in a Sovereign Grant to spend on the 
royal familys official duties, 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/570096/Sovereign_grant_review_2016_print.pdf#page=9>such 
as visits abroad, staff salaries, and upkeep on 
palaces like Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.
But the government 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/570096/Sovereign_grant_review_2016_print.pdf#page=23>says 
that the cost of essential repair work needed 
on Buckingham Palace means that 15% isnt enough. 
So the Sovereign Grant is going to be increased 
to 25% of the profit on the Crown Estatemeaning 
that, in effect, less will go to the Treasury for the next 10 years or so.

Could Her Majesty pay for it herself?

That decision has given rise to a petition, 
signed at time of writing by 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/make-royals-pay-for-palace-renovation>over 
140,000 people, demanding that the Royal Family pay for the repairs.
The Queen and her family do have private sources 
of income, separate from the Crown Estate lands.
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/http://www.duchyoflancaster.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Duchy-Report-and-Accounts-2015.pdf#page=5>Since 
1399, land and property in the Duchy of Lancaster 
has provided the monarch with a Privy Purse. 
This is income that can be spent on whatever the 
Queen wants, although the House of Commons 
Library 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN00819>says 
that some of it is spent on her official duties. 
In 2015, the Privy Purse came to 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/http://www.duchyoflancaster.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Duchy-Report-and-Accounts-2015.pdf#page=13>£16 
million.
The Duchy of Lancaster is 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/http://www.duchyoflancaster.co.uk/financial/>held 
in trust for the Queen, and there is 
significant<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/http://www.duchyoflancaster.co.uk/financial/financial-reporting/>government 
involvement and oversight of it. The 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/http://duchyofcornwall.org/assets/images/documents/Memorandum_of_Understanding_January_2014.pdf>same 
goes for the Duchy of Cornwall, which provided 
the Prince of Wales with 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/http://duchyofcornwall.org/assets/images/Duchy%20ARA%202016.pdf#page=13>over 
£20 million in 2015.
By contrast, the Queen also has private wealth 
like anyone else. And like most people, she 
doesnt feel the need to make public how much 
shes personally worth. So we dont know exactly 
how much she could in theory put towards repair 
work on Buckingham Palace, although 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-08/the-longer-she-reigns-the-less-wealthy-queen-elizabeth-ii-looks>Bloomberg 
and the 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-royals-wealth-idUKKCN0R71ZI20150907>Sunday 
Times have estimated her personal fortune at around £340 million.
The rationale for increasing the Sovereign Grant 
instead is that Buckingham Palace isnt just a 
place for the Queen to live. The government 
<https://fullfact.org/economy/paying-buckingham-palace-cost-refurbishment/https://www.gov.uk/government/news/funds-for-urgent-overhaul-of-buckingham-palace-granted>points 
to the economic value of the palace as a tourist 
attraction, and to the official events that take place there.
Those signing the petition against this decision 
may view Buckingham Palace as more of a personal 
asset, and the Crown Estate as a public asset rather than the monarchs.

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